Pl. find below a format  of complaint to the "Three Member Committee" in your area City/ES./WS. to take Disciplinary/penal action against Ward Officer, if the Ward Officer has not taken effective action against illegal HAWKERS ,on your complaint(s) , for failure to perform his duty, as per the Supreme Court order dated 9.12.2003.

               Request pl. circulate to all concerned NGO's & give wide publicity to this in your area ,as  well as in the Media for public awareness.

           Thank you

From -Madhu Sawant , G.R. Vora  & others

-------------------------

 Dated:----May, 2005.

To,

Three Member Committee,

  Mumbai City , Colaba ,  or E.S Ghatkopar, or W.S. Kandivali

Mumbai 

( Pl.write the concerned address )

  Sub:-Request to take penal/disciplinary action against Ward Officer (now called Asstt. Mun. Commr. hereinafter referred as WO) of ___  Ward, as per the directives in the Supreme Court order dated 9.12.2003, for failure to perform his duty.

  Ref:-Civil Appeal Nos. 4156–4157 of 2002 of Supreme Court (SC) in the Maharashtra Ekta Hawkers Union & Anr.Vs.Municipal Corporation & Ors. on 9.12.2003.(Hereinafter called “the said order” ).

Sir,

          We, the residents / traders / shopkeepers / residents’ group/citizens’ forum/NGO--------of-----------area,(strike off whichever are not applicable) (Hereinafter called “The citizens”) request you to take the appropriate penal / disciplinary action against the Ward Officer  ---Ward (WO for short), as directed by the Hon. S.C. in  Para 15 at page No. 22-23 of the said order :-

1.               Make adverse remark in the “Confidential Record” of the WO, for failure to perform his duty.

Or

2.               Withhold promotion of the WO as more than three such entries should have been recorded till date, for failure to perform his duty.

Or

3.               Terminate the services of the WO as more than six such entries should have been recorded in the Confidential Record of the WO till date, for failure to perform his duty.

We request you to impose the above penalty for the following reasons:-

a.               Under section 61 (o) of the BMC Act 1888, “The removal of obstructions and projections in or upon the streets, bridges and other public places is the ‘obligatory duty’ of the Corporation”. Thus it is the obligatory duty of the WO to perform the above duty, as he is the administrative head of this ward.

b.               In the said order ( Para 15 / Page 22) the SC has directed that “It is expected that citizens and shopkeepers shall participate in keeping non-hawking zones / areas free from hawkers.” Thus we have done our utmost and with our limited resources to aid the WO by bringing to his attention of the above violations in writing, or otherwise, and acting as watchdogs in general.

c.                Therefore, we the citizens of this ward have complained to the WO _______times since the said order till date in writing (letters enclosed) to evict the illegal hawkers on _______________ Road / Footpath / open spaces / gardens / playground / recreational ground , and yet no action has been taken against these hawkers by the WO.

d.               We have complained to you (i.e. the Three Member Committee) _____ times in writing (letters enclosed). Therefore, now there are sufficient grounds for you to make at least _____ adverse remarks in the Confidential Record of the WO regarding “failure to perform his duty”.

e.               No sincere efforts were not made (if at all) by the WO for evicting these hawkers, to ensure that the unauthorized hawkers were penalized as per the provisions of the BMC Act Section 516 AAA and other laws, and thus he has not taken any steps to prevent their return to their place of business, nor written to police station for taking any action against these hawkers, as was required as per the said order.

f.                 This area is a prominently visible  place in the ward. And due to the presence of unauthorized hawkers on public places give rise to various civic, traffic and law & order problems for us citizens. Thus it was imperative that the WO should have, taking recourse to the various anti-encroachment laws under the BMC Act and other laws of the land, and backed by said order of the Hon’ble SC, should have taken prudent, prompt and stringent action against the law-breaker hawkers. There was no reason whatsoever for the WO to neglect his duty and ignore his function as WO, in this area. This has lead to untold misery to us citizens day in and day out.

g.               The very fact that that despite receiving ____ complaints in writing and being empowered by the said order of the SC and the BMC Act, the Bombay Police Act, the Indian Penal code etc., the WO chose not to initiate effective action against the unauthorized hawkers, proves that he has abdicated of his responsibility as a an administrative and a planning head of this ward and it is a deliberate attempt by him to shield the unauthorized hawkers. This amounts to “failure to perform his duty” and “dereliction of duty”. All of this, you would agree is ground enough for the WO to be penalized by his promotion being withheld or service being terminated as directed by the said order.

h.              If the WO claims that action has been taken (?) against the unauthorized hawkers , whenever he has/had received complaints from the citizens, then it is amply clear that such “evictions” were a mere sham and an eyewash and an attempt to  fake record as “actions  taken” in the ward register , because in almost all the cases the action initiated has been in a  futile/half-hearted manner, inadequate Police protection sought, hawkers being forewarned of these “eviction drives”, very little (if at all) goods / wares / stalls being confiscated, minimal penalties imposed etc.  Such eviction drives being conducted in a lackadaisical and callous manner was always apparent to us residents, traders, pedestrians and observers as just within half an hour to one hour after such “eviction drives” the hawkers whose goods / wares / stalls have been ‘confiscated’ return to their place of business along with the same ‘confiscated goods’, and then life went on as usual.

i.                 It is also clearly seen that whenever the Police protection was sought during the eviction drives, the stringent penalties under the Bombay Police Act / the Indian Penal Code etc. have     never been invoked by the WO.

j.                 Also the provision of the BMC Act under section 516 AAA were never applied / invoked by the WO. Under these provisions offences under section 313,313A and 313B are cognizable and bailable. Meaning that the concerned hawkers could have been arrested by the police on the complaint of the said WO. Further the offenders could have “fined” by the Courts under section 472 BMC Act. Never, to our knowledge, has the WO invoked any of these provisions to deter the unauthorized Hawkers from returning to their place of business.

k.               The dereliction of duty by the WO is clear by the fact that the “Saaf Aangan” scheme, initiated by the Municipal Commissioner and proposed by the civic-conscious citizen – Mr. Madhu Sawant of the NGO ‘I Clean Mumbai’, vide the BMC circular No. MCC / B / 9185 of 2.12.2002), which was put forth to involve better citizen involvement in the upkeep and maintenance of the open spaces and keep it encroachment free, has never been attempted/ implemented by the WO. This is apparent by the fact that little or no publicity has been given by the WO to this excellent scheme. The citizens’ proposals to adopt their footpaths / open spaces are neither being expedited, nor permission granted for adoptions, not giving water connections for the upkeep of gardens / flower beds (wherever required) etc. Please note that the order to implement “Saaf Aangan” scheme by the WO was reiterated by the DyMC (Hawkers Regulation) – Mr. C B Rokde vide BMC circular no. DMC (HR)/5 of 14.3.2005.  Yet, this scheme lies in limbo – unknown, unused and unexplored.

    All the above prove the guilt of the WO for lack of any will on his part, and his dereliction of duty and willful protection of the unauthorized hawkers, thus inviting the penal/disciplinary clause of the said order (i.e. withholding promotion or termination of service) as the case may be.

    Now we urge you to do the needful (as directed & required by the said order of the SC) ,so that the citizens /commuters are relieved of the tremendous nuisance and mental agony caused due to the presence of unauthorized hawkers in this area.

Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,

Name ________

Citizens’ group / Traders group etc.

Address_________

--------------------END-------------------

P.S.---For any difficulty may contact 'CT-Space'NGO,

or Mr.G.R.VORA (Sion) Mob..98691-95785 or 24091193